Lloyd Lofthouse has written a powerful memoir in Crazy Normal that took me back to time we shared at Nogales High School. His reflections and anecdotes based on his daily journal brought so many memories of my own teaching experiences there. This is not fiction, but retelling of events that might give insight for many into the challenges a teacher faces every day.
Nogales is an interesting school with some amazing qualities that might surprise most people. The school itself is nestled among several diverse communities in Southern California. Our kids came to us from middle class to lower economic backgrounds. The ethnic make-up ranged to include everyone and everything with a dominance of the Hispanic groups. The kids with Spanish surnames came from Mexico (upper and lower classes), the Philippines, Honduras, Columbia, etc. This diversity made it necessary for teachers to try to reach students past the barrier of limited English skills, or those whose parents had no schooling, as well as parents who were professional people, the wealthy, the poor, and everything in between. Our teachers worked miracles every day.
Part of a small school district just east of Los Angeles, Nogales sprang up quickly as many families tried to escape the “big city” problems of LA to find a home in a more country-like setting. The early neighborhoods included some housing that required extra money if the buyers wanted concrete floors. In the early days of my teaching, some of my students shared their sleeping quarters with farm animals that wondered at will from the yard to the dirt flooring under the roofs. These were the “Happy Homes” of La Puente.
Lofthouse’s journal shows a later picture of the community. The kids who populate the pages of his memoir don’t have dirt floors, but many of them are still new to the country and the language. Some are headed to colleges and universities while others, if they graduate from high school, might be the first of their families to achieve that diploma.
Though he doesn’t use the real names of his students, I was able to recognize quite a few o f his main characters. Lloyd’s frustration with his Scrollies, the staff members of the school newspaper, often included kids I had in my own English classes. Like Lloyd, I advised the Scroll for many years and Mr. Lofthouse took it over one or two years after me. While my battles over the school newspaper had been with an administration who wanted to control it, Lloyd’s were with students who were resistant to his demands and with parents who, often, were not supportive.
I had to take breaks from reading when Lloyd described the grueling and frustrating teachers’ meetings. These were not times I wanted to revisit now that I have retired after thirty-seven years of teaching. But like Lloyd, my good memories are of the students who walked through my doors every day. I revel in their accomplishments and their ability to overcome huge societal obstacles in order to succeed. Nogales is a place like many other American high schools where crazy is normal.
I applaud Lloyd Lofthouse for his dedication and hard work on behalf of kids who needed someone who cared enough to help his students learn and grow. His story is worth telling—and worth the read.
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Top reviews from other countries
Alison M. Mcdonald
almost ethnographical
Reviewed in Australia on February 28, 2015